Once Was Lost
by Sittingonthis
Summary: One night, Maddie overhears Kevin talk about his daughters with Jenny Bradley which leads her to emotional epiphanies. One Shot. (maybe?)


"Tell me about them" she had asked Kevin curiously. She gestured toward the picture that he absentmindedly had picked up. It was an older picture of Kevin and the girls on vacation in Greece. Rosie was already a looker, clearly. Sophie was in pigtails and dungarees. The picture was the definition of "happy families".

Kevin hadn't meant to, maybe it was the wine, but he had stopped and paused. On the shelf were some framed pictures that Sophie and Maddie had pulled together one day recently. Sophie had been complaining about how the flat needed some "home-ification". She had been such a mardy lately that everyone had just gave into her whim of the day.

It had been due to his daughter's mood swings that he had waited until she was in bed before he invited Jenny over. Kevin just wanted some company and he liked how comfortable they were together. It wasn't the same as Sally. Jenny was more relaxed and easy. Luckily, the redhead had agreed to stop by for a drink. Now they each stood grinning goofily at each other over cheap scotch.

It was so nearly perfect. If only Sophie could see that it was what he needed.

* * *

Unable to sleep, Maddie had disentangled herself from her girlfriend's arms and quietly slipped out the door. Sophie had been so dead tired that she hadn't even stirred. It had been a tough few days between the brunette's moods and her endless shifts at the shop. It was all understandable that her girlfriend lacked the energy for much else other than being stroppy. While Maddie tried to be sensitive, at the same time, it was doing Maddie's head in as well. She couldn't shake the belief that this churlishness aimed at her dad was O.T.T. Bizarrely Maddie now felt like the adult and it didn't suit her.

Still at night, she looked over at the brunette sleeping and her breath caught at the beauty beside her. Sophie was it for her. She just needed to find a way back to before the crash...before Jenny Bradley...before back to...

_You're the one._

She sighed. Crossing her arms she headed toward the stairs. As she stood at the top of the stairs she could hear Kevin's voice drifting up the landing. It was soft but creeping forward on the stairs she could just make out what he was saying. And he wasn't alone.

"Well Rosie...too pretty for her own good that's for sure. But she has a good heart and bless her...she's in London now. Trying to find her own way" Kevin finished up.

"And Sophie?" Jenny prodded. Kevin sighed. Taking a sip of his Scotch, his lips fell into a half smile. It was an expression that he and his younger daughter shared.

"She fell in love with God, then girls...such things don't always mesh together" Kevin trailed off. He sat down on the couch cradling his drink.

"Poor girl…" Jenny sighed sitting next to him.

"It hasn't been easy for her and Sal and I haven't been there for her like we should be" Kevin said lowly. "We got caught up in our own problems and the way she is now…" Kevin shook his head.

"You said that she forgave you for Jack, and there's nothing you could have done about her being the way she is…" Jenny consoled him.

"It's not that Jenny. I don't care about the fact that she's gay. I just want her to be happy" he looked for the words in his glass. "It's just that…." he visibly struggled. Unable to find the words there, he lifted his chin and faced the red head woman beside him.

"If I had been there more when she was younger… I know she struggles knowing her place. Always feeling lost in the shuffle" he finished.

"But you love her...she knows that" Jenny smiled sadly "You're here for her now, Kevin."

"Still she's so insecure underneath all that stroppy attitude. Sally and I didn't build her up. We were too busy tearing each other down" he finished his drink. Getting up to pour another, neither adult spoke until Kevin returned to the couch.

* * *

Listening on the staircase, Maddie shook her head. It caused her heart to ache hearing her girlfriend being discussed in such a way. She knew the Webster family history. Kevin and Sally could be such selfish cows sometimes. And she knew that it got to her girlfriend sometimes. This "Jenny Bradley" thing was just the latest in a series of events. Maddie tried her best to make it better. A joke here. A smile there. Still Sophie wouldn't let it go.

"Come back to bed, babe" she heard a sleepy voice whisper in her ear. She turned toward the voice with a bit of a start. Of course it was only Sophie clad in her bed wear with her eyes half closed. She got up and took her hand as they went back to the sanctuary of their bedroom. Closing the door, they resumed their previous sleeping position with Maddie on her back. Sophie slung her arm around Maddie's waist. Her heavy breathing indicated that she was falling asleep again.

Maddie turned over and watched the brunette. For a moment her heart felt tender at the sight of such a vulnerable thing. Sophie Webster tried so hard to be strong for everyone. She could be tough if needs be. Her voice could be as harsh as a knife that slit your throat. And yet in these moments it was Sophie's naked self that Maddie loved.

"Sophie" she said low enough to be a prayer. She got a grunt in return.

"It's just…" she hesitated. Struck by the inadequacy of words she reached out and caressed the swell of her girlfriend's hip. For that action she got a pleasurable sigh and a shuffle toward her for more contact.

"Baby what…" Sophie murmured.

"You're so important. Don't forget it" she said in hushed awe.

At first Maddie wasn't even sure she had heard it. But then the brunette's lips arched upward and she had to remember to breathe.

"If you wanted to leave here, I'd leave with you" she continued. "It can be just us" she leaned in closer.

"Baby" Sophie sighed. Quietly between them, as if there were nothing else but the words being, the entire world disappeared.

"All you have to do is stay" she said firmly.


End file.
